Chapter 4:
Flight from Sin into Despair
So here is Lilith's story in the introduction of the four Vault Hunters meeting for the first time. I wish I could have posted this sooner, but my internet at home was cut off for a couple of days and I could not view this blog at all. In a way, these stories are one from four different angles told by the characters I hope to portray to the best of my ability or what Gearbox sees them as.
Cold shivered up Lilith's arm as she peered around the edge of frozen cryo tubes filled with sleeping businessmen and politicians. She listened for another group of physicians but the constant pattering of cryo gel against the hard steel floor consumed the room. Each drip brought chills against her bare legs keeping her awake as she hid from the crew of the star liner Charon's Wake. The trip was her father's idea and he made certain that she understood the full extent of the consequences.
"I can keep this disguise up forever, but you, my sweet, are a child, and your body grows while your mind wanders, I need you to lay low and keep in the shadows the whole way. Maecion will know by now that I left and he will be furious. If he catches us we will not exist, he will kill you. He will kill a child, my child, my sweet lovely Lily, to get vengeance, do you understand? We need to get off the grid and stay off forever. We cannot trust anyone on this ship and you cannot be seen, your beautiful red hair will give you away and word always gets back to him. Stay to the shadows, keep to yourself, and think of the rest of our lives together. I do this for you my love, now please do this for me."
His words would echo through her head every morning and every night and the pain at the thought of failing him kept her alive in the depths of the ship.
Pins and needles filled her legs as she stood from behind the cryo tubes. White clouds narrowed her vision and her head filled with absent thoughts. She steadied herself and breathed deeply feeling her lungs tighten and collapse with lack of oxygen.
I have to get out of here soon…
Minutes would pass into hours before she felt safe enough to inch her way to the door. With a breath of encouragement she tapped the code into the lock and stepped back into darkness. Fog rolled out of the room and into the corridor clearing the air inside of the cryo room. She listened for boots against metal, ragged breathing, shifting of armament, anything that would give away prying eyes. With each passing day the crew became more and more aware of little oddities throughout the ship and nerves took each member to another depth of delirium. Over the past two cycles the crew started talking of a ghost onboard opening hatches, phantom foot steps behind walls, whispers echoing in the cryo room and Lilith was happy to claim them all. She let the door close until she was certain before opening again and heading out.
She followed the low lit corridors keeping to the unused areas of the converted supply freighter thinking of the friends she just abandoned sleeping in isolation. Her father picked this vessel because of the outdated electronics and limited personnel which caused for the least liability on their voyage. Only the most eccentric would pay more to ride in cryostasis on a sub par vessel to hasten the trip without it being an impediment on their precious time. All the while, those less favored would travel paying their way with work or live in horrid conditions cramping next to others eating rotten spam and drinking dirty water. Her father took caution when deciding how he was going to play his role and he ended up playing the part of a flamboyant entrepreneur on vacation to his next business venture. She, unfortunately, could not play a part on this trip, she was the liability this time.
Lilith watched the gray paint slowly chipping away on her way through the water recycler. Twisting and turning through the tight corridors she followed the pipes keeping half her mind on the nearness of the walls and the other half on the mist spraying on her face. The weight of the humidity deluged her senses cleansing her body and soul invigorating her mind briefly. She followed the map embedded in her mind from countless trips in escape of close encounters to an elevator shaft that ran the entirety of the ship. She disguised herself inside of an upside down food crate while heading down and waited.
The clamber of steel on steel woke her from dreamless sleep.
Shit… Must have passed out…
"…nd the capt'n wants us to stop by this place ta make a quick penny from those guns we picked up."
"Hah! I knew wez goin ta make a nice pinch from that cargo. Right make and models for a planet of criminals and fools we has. Hey! Make sure you set that one ta forty five pounds and release that valve to two eighty."
"Right, right."
"What was that **** pots name again?"
"Pandora…. Heya… looks like one o tha boys left another crate in the pulla… lazy *****."
Yellow lights filled her vision blinding her suddenly as he lifted the crate off her. Time slowed and she closed her eyes.
Please don't see me… please don't see me… please don't see me…
She opened her eyes and looked directly at the back of the man holding the crate. Remembering the other voice she tilted her head slightly to find a man turning a valve wheel with his back facing her.
Fucking lucky… what to do…what to do…
With an unknown speed she slammed her palm against the lift and turned around lowering her head to hide her hair.
"What the…HEY! Who da **** are you! Come back hur you dirty pile uh ****!"
Lilith did the only thing she could think of. She went to see her father.
By no means was the gallery of this liner considered lavish or extraordinary but enough accommodations were made for the attendees to have it feel comfortable. The floors were made of hard metal and crude tables adorned the room against the walls and cluttered in the middle as rough rugs and carpets were laid underneath. Paintings were hanging along the walls between lockers with only one window to illuminate the room from passing planets and stars.
Lilith peered through an air vent into the gallery in hopes of finding her father. She watched a few couples eat lunch and idly watching the stars float by as others were playing cards or smoking in stride with the liquor cart. Then she noticed him, without a second's hesitation. A plump old man sat on a cushioned chair against the inner wall puffing on a crude electric pipe staring directly at her.
He must know something is up... or we are getting off here...
She slipped two fingers out of the grating and wiggled them around until he winked. Lilith smiled to herself at the prospect of getting to talk to someone besides those dead to the world or herself and scurried off into darkness.
She arrived at the room early and gave in to indulgency and lay down on the downey bed. Nothing ever felt so sweet... Dreams filled her thoughts for a few minutes.
A faint noise of the door shutting startled her and she lifted her head seeing her father standing in the doorway staring at her with a smile.. Deep gentle words drifted from his mouth. "You always looked like your mother with those drowsy eyes and puffy checks." He sighed and looked up closing his eyes. "God I miss her."
The man before her wore a plain red and gold vest over a white silk shirt. Black pants held up by red suspenders with gold filigree wrapped over the fake stomach that he wore. A tuff of auburn hair covered his chin and his head had a glow from the shine of the balding ca. Glue was applied to his face and the backs of his hands to wrinkle his skin causing him to look elderly. The disguise was good but she could still see her father's features underneath it all.
"I miss her too. Will you tell me what happened when we get out of this mess?"
The placid look he gave her was the only answer she needed but he still said it. "When you are old enough. We need to get there first, and that is why I presume you called me here?"
"Well, ah, yes and no. I overheard some of the crew saying we were stopping by a planet in between destinations. Are we going to get off here?"
"Yes, the place is called Pandora. It is... or was an industrial landmark for multiple gun manufacturers. Some believe there is a gold mine of alien technology larger than that on Prometheus. That was until Atlas claimed the planet to be a wasteland and this vault myth was nothing more than folk lore to bring tourists. After that all of the manufacturers picked up shop the only that remained were the outlaws who started picking up where the workers left off in search of alien ruins to sell in the black market."
"Oh.... and you want to live there?"
"Yes. We can stay under the radar and do basically anything we want without attracting too much attention. Plus, Maecion will think I would go off and be lax with his money. A planet like Pandora would be the last place he would look for us. The captain announced this morning that we would be docking in two days on the planet for refueling."
"I doubt we are, those crewmen said they were selling some of the guns they got from the last stop. Said it was ripe for selling to the kind on Pandora. I doubt the ship even needs to be refueled."
He waltzed over and sat next to her on the bed scratching his chin in thought.
"That will do. You will have your way out without being seen. Stay close to one of the docking bays and wait for your opportunity on a shipments run. When you get down there meet me behind the bank there. We need to set up new names and a new account as soon as possible. Dress down and get dirty. Remember this place is full of criminals so watch your back until we meet up."
There was a footstep outside the door and they both crouched ready to move. Her father lipped "GO" and pointed to the air vent. She lipped back "Someone saw me" before heading up into the vent. He whispered back "I know" then turned to open the door. Slowly she crept away into the darkness heading toward the docking bays.
"What are you doing here ol' man? This room ain't bein used."
The two nights sleeping in the docking bay had been easy except for the nightmares. Light flurried across her vision as the next crate was loaded unto the shuttle for the decent. The days and nights passed into distant noises and haunting images from her past.
Red lights flickered beyond her vision covering the sweaty bodies that lay in piles around her with eerie auras. Muffled noises came from beyond the walls and dread filled her heart. The air was stifling hot and sweat stung her eyes with each passing moment. The room was filled with blood and bodies and bullet casings. The smell of burning flesh caught in her throat as her eyes drifted over each corpse. Scorch marks ran along the walls and stopped at the door to her home. The door opened and her mother stood there naked. Her body emanated with pulsing blue light along the tattoos wrapping around her arms and legs. Mother…
"Alright boys, let's close her up, last one for the day!"
Moments passed before understanding took hold of her again.
It's the last drop… gotta make it quick…
She quickly peeked out of the polymer crate she was hiding in and jumped out and landed with a hard thump. She turned around and came face to face with a grease monkey staring at her in shock.
"The phantom…"
She felt around the nearest crate, took hold of some object, and threw it.
Blood and skull painted behind him as he fell backward. Lilith watched in amazement at the site of the gun settling on his chest. She turned around hit the lock and knelt beside the man as the doors shut behind her. The top half of his head was blown clean off with blood pooling around his limp form. She reached out to grab the gun and stopped when she noticed red all up her arm. She was covered in his life. The weight inside the shuttle shifted as the shuttle descended to the planet.
His life… I took his life…oh god… what have I done…
A month later in the middle of nowhere…
The sound of distant gunfire called to Lilith drawing her to an abandoned vehicle depot with a boy sitting on top of a New-U station. She waited and watched the boy for a long time as he fired at something in the distance before sneaking up underneath him. Must be killin time… guess I could waste some time too…wonder if he has good balance…Her boot scraped against the metal surface of the garage alerting the boy. Shocked at her carelessness Lilith grabbed the pole and jerked it as hard as her arms could impose. She turned around at the sound of the boy thumping against the ground behind her. His eyes bulged for an instant before rolling back in his head.
Not again…
Furious at herself she started beating on his chest and stomach attempting to resuscitate her second victim. He did not respond to the blows so she switched her motive to kicking and yelling.
"GET UP! DON'T DIE BOY! DON'T DIE! PLEASE! WAKE UP…. I WAS ONLY FOOLIN AROUND! I PROMISE TO BE NICE! JUST DON'T DIE!"
His lip twitched at the noise then he mumbled nonsense at her. Overwhelming joy fell over her at the site until he curled up into the fetal position. Lilith looked around in hopes of some water pump only to come up with a rusted bucket in the corner of the garage. Doing the only thing she could think of she pissed in the bucket and tossed it over the boy.
"Wake up boy, I only meant ta scare ya. But ya had to go and fall on your head. See here." She said while poking the back of his head.
"Oww. You are lucky I almost sho..." The boy stopped suddenly and stared at her. He was fat, to say the least, with a snug filthy shirt over blue khaki shorts being held up by an old leather belt. Short blond hair followed his scalp over the top of his sun burnt face and neck and sky blue eyes fixed under his heavy brow. When she looked at his eyes she realized that he was staring directly at her chest and gave a huff. Father was right, all they care about is tits and ass… She lifted her hand to where his eyes were fixated and pointed back up to her face.
"Shoo...shooo..Damn, you must'a hit your head real good. You can't even finish a sentence."
"Ah, um, yea." The boy said rubbing his head. "I was going to say I would of shot you thinkin you were a skag. Next time, give some fair warning before makin a guy fall for you. Alright?"
"The name's Bart, thanks for the wake up call." He held out his hand. Doing what she thought the locals would do she spit in her own and took his hand in her own giving a hard shake.
"My pa calls me Lilly."
"You ain't from around here are you? Where did you come from?"
Embarrassed she looked at the ground in hopes of coming up with a reasonable excuse. How the hell did he know from just looking at me…Then she remembered what her father said on the ship before the landed and looked up to answer. "My pa came here looking to work for Dahl, but when we arrived they told us that Dahl was close'n shop and no work was ta be found."
Haaaarrrrooooooooo…
She turned at the most horrifying sound she had ever heard. In the distance she could see a deformed dog morning over smaller dogs around it. She turned to him with hopes of some explanation to what the beast was but the shocked look on his face was all the she needed. They quietly snuck behind the garage waiting from some sign of it leaving them be. She closed her eyes and prayed for it to leave but a distant noise erased any hope she had.
"Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
The faint sound of sniffs came from just beyond the garage.
Hrwaooooooorrrrrrrrrr.
Fear filled her heart lifting her feet forcing her to run from the hound. Then she heard the boy's voice. "C'mon, I know a spot over there by the cliffside. Hurry!" Lilith turned around picking up momentum from the downward angle. The sight before her was glorious. A rock cliff reaching into the sky with a series of caves set deep high above the ground. She passed Bart with new vigor at the prospect of avoiding death. The base of the cliff side was met with loose rocks and she leaped high over it landing with ease a foot from the wall. Without looking back she started her ascent until she reached a small crevasse three meters up and squeezed inside. She looked out hoping to see the boy already on his way up but the view she found paralyzed her.
The beast was on top of him biting and clawing in furor. The image blurred into a series of colors and motions. Clay and crimson darted and swayed against each other in a tidal wave of power over helplessness. Tears filled her eyes when she saw blood seep into the ground around the massacre.
I can't protect anyone…I am a failure…